


July in Christmas

by Masterofkarate



Category: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia
Genre: Alcohol, Cuddling, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, M/M, and there was (n)one bed, ignoring emotional trauma the paddys way
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-25
Updated: 2019-12-25
Packaged: 2021-02-26 02:01:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,500
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21955561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Masterofkarate/pseuds/Masterofkarate
Summary: Charlie celebrates July in Christmas by himself, freezing outside in summer attire. thank god for mac.
Relationships: Charlie Kelly/Mac McDonald
Comments: 4
Kudos: 80





	July in Christmas

Mac was pissed the fuck off, because where the hell was Charlie? Mac was stuck taking the trash out. Dennis was warming up the Range Rover, getting ready to drive everybody home. Nobody had known it was going to snow (because who checks the weather anymore?), so they all came into the bar. When the snow started getting heavy, everybody decided to head home. Dennis even offered to drive Dee and Frank to their places since it was so cold and the Range Rover could handle the snow (and also because Frank threatened him with a gun and Dee got in the car before Dennis had even started it).

Charlie, however, had disappeared at the first few flurries. Mac had no idea where to. Home, probably. Hopefully not in the sewers, Mac wasn’t sure how safe that was and he didn’t want Charlie to freeze to death amongst all of Philadelphia’s feces. 

It didn’t matter where Charlie went. It was the fact that Charlie was gone that forced Mac to haul the trash out to the dumpster in the back. Mac had three stuffed trash bags twisted around his hand and tossed over his right shoulder as he hauled it towards the back door.

He swung the door open and immediately learned where Charlie was. 

“What the fuck is this?” he yelled. He dropped the trash behind him as he hurried to Charlie. Charlie was very pale, more so than usual, excluding blotchy patches of red peppering his cheeks. He was in a fucking floral hawaiian shirt, shorts, a lei, and flip-flops (since when did Charlie even own flip-flops?), sitting on a lawn chair with a beer in his hand.

“Hey man,” Charlie said, lifting his head. His chin had been tilted down as he’d been dozing off slightly. His eyes were glazed over and he was smiling lazily, nose shiny with silver spray paint.

“Dude, it’s fucking snowing out, what are you doing out here?” Mac asked.

“It’s July in Christmas,” Charlie mumbled with a shrug.

“It’s what?” Mac huffed.

“ _ Christmas  _ in  _ July _ ,” Charlie repeated.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Charlie, that’s not a fucking thing, that’s not how it works,” Mac grumbled, he walked over to Charlie and grabbed his arm, tugging him to stand up.

“Get off of me!” Charlie shrieked.

Mac let go, but hissed, “Fine, but come the fuck inside the bar, you’re gonna freeze to death out here.” 

Charlie stood up and shrugged, following Mac into the bar, head hung low. Once inside, Mac tugged his jacket off and put it over Charlie's shoulders.

“Go get in the office,” Mac huffed, “It’s warmer in there.”

“Don’t make me go in the office alone,” Charlie mumbled.

“It's warmer in there! I’ll be in in like five seconds, just go in the goddamn office, Charlie!”

“Don’t boss me around!” Charlie shouted at him with a renewed energy.

Mac took in a deep breath and massaged his temple with two fingers. After exhaling slowly, he said more quietly, “Okay, fine, whatever. I’m gonna grab the blankets from the bunker downstairs.”

“I don’t want to go in the basement, you're gonna bash me like a rat!" Charlie asked quickly.

“You don’t have to go in the goddamn basement! I’m going in the basement to-”

“Don’t make me go in the basement!”

“Fine, if you don’t want to go in the basement, you could go in the office!” Mac suggested.

“Fine! I’ll go in the goddamn office! You want me in the office? I’ll go in the office!” Charlie shouted.

Mac sighed with relief when Charlie stormed into the office. When Mac was in the basement, his phone rang. Dennis asked what the fuck was taking him so long. Mac tried to explain but Dennis told him they were leaving without them and hung up.

With a few blankets hung over his arm, a six pack of beer, and a bottle of whiskey pressed between his arm and his torso, Mac went to the back office. Charlie was standing on the chair, pulling off the vent cover.

“Jesus fucking Christ, Charlie,” Mac sighed. “Can you please just sit down?”

Charlie looked over his shoulder and saw the bottles in Mac’s hand. He shrugged and hopped off the chair, sitting back down.

“I felt all cornered in in here,” Charlie said.

“I’m not trying to corner you in, I’m trying to make sure you don’t freeze to death from hypothermia,” Mac said, he tossed a blanket at Charlie. He asked, “What the fuck were you doing out there?”

“I told you, it’s July in-”

“July in Christmas is not a real thing!”

“Well it’s better than Christmas in Christmas,” Charlie grumbled.

“Dude, is that what this is about? Just ‘cause it’s Christmas? I get it, Charlie, Christmas sucks, but you don’t have to try to kill yourself in the weiredest possible way.”

“I wasn’t trying to kill myself, dude.”

“Whatever,” Mac mumbled. He adjusted the heat on the space heater and opened the bottle of whiskey, handing it to Charlie. “Drink this, it’ll warm you up.”

“I don’t even feel that cold,” Charlie said as he took the bottle.

“I’m pretty sure that means you’re like dying from hypothermia, man.”

“I’m pretty sure if I was dying from hypothermia, I would feel cold. I’m pretty sure I'm just like immune to it or whatever. My mom probably got me vaccinated for hypothermia.”

“Can we not do this? I don’t want to fight with you all night, man. Dennis drove away, we’re stuck here all night together, can we just keep our cool?”

“Fine, but you have to stop bossing me around.”

“Fine, whatever, as long as you stop trying to freeze to death.”

“I’m not trying to freeze to death,” Charlie mumbled.

Mac huffed a laugh. Mac laughing, even slightly frustrated, made Charlie smile.

“Okay, we can be cool,” Charlie said with a lazy smile.

Mac smiled more genuinely at that. He sat on the edge of the desk, facing Charlie, neither of them noticing how close they were. They passed the whiskey back and forth, swigging from bottles of beer in between. 

"My hands hurt a little," Charlie said, looking down at them, his fingers were bright red.

"Because you were freezing," Mac said. He took one of Charlie's hands, holding both of his hands over it. "Christ, they're still cold."

"Holy shit Mac, you're warm."

"Yeah because I wasn't out in the cold."

"Hold on. I have an idea."

Charlie stood up. He put the whiskey on the desk and guided Mac by the shoulders to sit down on the office chair. When Mac was seated, Charlie wrapped the blanket over his own shoulders and shuffled closer to Mac. Slowly, he put a knee on either side of Mac's thighs, lowering to sit on his lap. 

"What are you doing?" Mac laughed, putting his hand on Charlie's back so he wouldn't fall.

"You're warm, blankets warm, now I'm warm on both sides," Charlie mumbled, smiling sleepily as he closed his eyes and nuzzled his face against Mac's chest.

Mac laughed. Charlie hummed at the vibration, it was as close to a purr as Mac thought a person could get. He rubbed Charlie's back slowly, unsure of why he did. But it felt nice. Charlie's weight on him, Charlie's skin was cold but his weight on Mac was still sort of warm. And Charlie was actually breathing slowly and calmly. And Charlie looked sort of happy. It felt safe and comfortable. It felt like home. 

Mac yawned, which caused him to shift his weight under Charlie, trying to gently push at his shoulder, "We can't sleep like this, dude. That will kill my back."

"You're so old," Charlie whispered, not moving, not opening his eyes.

"You're older than me," Mac laughed. 

Charlie smiled and nodded against Mac's chest.

Mac laughed again and said, "C'mon we'll put the blankets on the floor and go sleep on the floor."

Charlie groaned and stood up slowly, rubbing his eyes before blinking them open. He walked out of the office and tapped his foot impatiently as Mac laid a comforter down on the ground. 

Once the blanket was down, Charlie laid down on his back. As soon as Mac sat beside him, Charlie tugged at his arm, pulling Mac onto his chest. Other than a small laugh, Mac didn't object.

"You know, if you just wanted to cuddle or whatever, you didn't have to risk you're life, you could have just asked," Mac told Charlie.

Charlie chuckled and nodded. He said, "I'll remember that next time."

Mac felt a weird warmth in his stomach. He just closed his eyes and focused on the warmth now coming off of Charlie, knowing he'd warmed Charlie up, the warmth in his stomach growing at that thought. He felt Charlie breathing slow and deep, a rare occurrence to have Charlie this calm and relaxed. Mac let that feeling usher him to sleep. He was already thinking about next time.


End file.
